Gatsby and Geography?
Compare and contrast Gatsby's social class with that of Tom and Daisy Buchanan. Based upon our reading so far, how does geography contribute to the definition of social class in The Great Gatsby? (Due by 3:30p.m. Monday)
posted by Greg T at Thursday, February 26, 2009
27 Comments:
In the great Gatsby, when it talks about the separate hills that look similar to eggs.it also explains that they are on the other side of eachother, miles apart. in social classes high rank vs. low rank , many would think that those classes are miles apart as well. tom comes from mroe of a lower calls background and daisy comes from a mroe upper class. the geography of the two hill separates the two.
In The Great Gatsby the geography doesn't really effect the social class. For example, Gatsby lives in West Egg which is not as "fancy" as East Egg and yet he is the one who is having all of the parties. Even though Tom and Daisy Buchanan are from different backgrounds they live in East Egg and are not nearly as popular as Gatsby.
Gatzby's social class seems to be made up of people who work hard for their wealth, unlike Tom and Daisy's social class, in which the people in a way inherited their wealth. Their social classes differ by how hard they have to work for their wealth. Geography helps define the difference in social class by demonstrating how two concepts can have a main characteristic in common when everything else about them differs. The two pieces of land in the setting are shaped like eggs, and the shape can be seen as the one characteristic they have in common. However, the attitude, appearance and values differ between the two. East Egg possibly looks more appealing and the people act as though they are better than anyone else. In contrast, West Egg can be thought to have a cheaper style and appearance, and it seems as though the people living there have more positive attitudes and are willing to work hard to maintain their wealth.
Social class is a theme that is very important throughout the Great Gatsby. The obvious division of the two classes is caused by the physical characteristics seperating them. The fact that East and West egg are seperated by the poor citizens embodies this notion that the two social classes share very little in common with each other. This is shown through the obvious differences between the Buchanans and Gatsby. The Buchanans act as though they expect to have money to spend freely, whereas Gatsby seems to truly appreciate every dollar he makes as a result of his hard work.
Geography is important in this novel because the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, uses it to reveal charachter. In a sense, where a charachter lives determines what they do and how they perceive others. East Egg is where Tom and Daisy Buchanan live, a couple who is accustomed to wealth and an extravagant lifestyle. On the contrary, West Egg is an area for the "newly rich" who are not yet socially adapted to their lifestyle. Gatsby, who lives in West Egg, seems to be part of the social class that has to work for their riches instead of inheritance.
It has been mentioned several times in the book the the two Eggs are not far appart in distance but in soclial status they are miles apart. The East Egg where tom and daisy live is very wealthy. Tom and daisy seem to have a lot of money and they show that with their big house ,but they dont use money as freely as Gatsby. Gatsby could be one of the welthiest on East Egg, But he Chose to live on West Egg next to tom hoping to meet Daisy at one of his extremly wxpensive parties. it seems as gatsby just blows money off like its nothing where as tom and Daisy spend it apreciativly. That is how i veiw the difference in the social classes of wealth.
"The Great Gatsby" has two towns that are seperated by many different things, such as miles apart and the different social classes that live in each town. In the relationship of Tom and Daisy this barrier of them being in different social classes is putting to much of a strain on them. This case just proves that most people don't marry outside of their social class.
Gatsby's social class seems to be composed of primarily of hard workin people who have to actually earn their money where as the Buchanans just expect to always have money to spend. A geographical difference that contrubites to this is that on west egg is made up by those hard working people when east egg is made up of those who seem to have inherited their money. They are also separated by a couple miles.
In the Great Gatsby there are two geologically dofferent places, the East Egg and the West Egg, while the East egg is mroe upper class and the West Egg is lower, Nick gets his house for $80\month! The fact that the East egg is more wealthy and has nicer grass and materials defines the social classes in the book.
In the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald symbolizes the different social classes by East and West egg, which are miles apart from one another. The social class of Gatsby is different than Tom and Daisy because they while he spends huge amounts of money on parties, Tom and Daisy choose to spend their money wisely even though they have a decent amount of money.
In the Great Gatsbys, social classes are defined by your geography. They are split by only a couple of miles by the two "eggs" are vastly different. In many cases in the west egg people work for their earnings. While in many cases in the east egg, the wealth is inherited. The way you make your money can determine the sort of person you are.
The two social classes, in the Great Gatsby, show more than just the value of property and the placement of their homes. Even though Nick lives in West Egg, he has a lot of social ties with the people of East Egg (like Tom and Daisy). The book briefly explains that the wealthy people on the West end have no great social abilities (like Gatsby) but own a great deal of money given to them. On the other side, the people have to work for their money. This book, in my opinion, saws that having money can change your life; meaning that you will end up alone and strive for the outsiders attention (by throughing parties for people they don't even know). On the East end, they might be a little bit too social (having affairs and flanting that in front of others).
Gatsby is of the same social class of Tom and Daisy Buchanan but he lives in the town that is known for not being as luxurious and lavish as the other.
The three people, Gatsby, Tom and Daisy demonstarait an interesting relationship between social classes. Daisy is wealthy and comes from east egg which is considered the more elgant and wealthy side of the two. Tom comes from west egg wich symbolizes that he is not very wealthy . Gatsby's contrast between where he lives, west egg, and his social class is very interesting when considering west egg is generally lower class but Gatsby is very wealthy and known for his extravigant partys and get togethers, that people travel from near and far to expierence and be a part of.
In real life they are usually differences between social classes, such as different neighborhoods. Gatsby goes to the extreme to seperate his social classes by placing them on different islands. I think a key theme in the islands is that they look exactly the same. It shows that he believes that people should be considered the same but often aren't due to how much money one obtains. Tom and Daisy's social class is one of elegance and notoriety. it is also one full of different pleasures. On the other hand , Gatsby is a rich fortunate man on West egg but he would be one of the poorest if he moved over to East egg. The fact that he places the two similar islands so far away from each other. It shows (as pointed out earlier) the fact that they are both human beings (the similarity of the islands). Yet they are so far away from each other seperated by a vast body of water. I think that social class is a very important factor in the great gatsby and i think the comparison and contrast between the two islands is a great allusion to the theme
The geography in the book is very important and helps explain the difference in the social classes. The West Egg is the poorer of the two egg's. It is not as fancy or high class as east egg and east egg is where the economy is striving. The only exception is that Gatsby has a huge home in West Egg which is not normal. He is a similar class to that of Tom and Daisy. They are both successful, but the only difference is that they live in different envirements.
I think the social classes are viewed a lot in the Great Gatsby. It's almost a way of living, West Egg is for the lower class and East is for the higher class. One exception is Gatsby who is wealthy and is living in West Egg unlike Tom and Daisy who are wealthy and live on the wealthy side. I think Gatsby doesnt care much about social classes and that's why he is doing what he wants and Tom and Daisy are kind of following the ways of life.
I think that Gatsby is more of an earn your way social class. Whereas I think Tom's and Daisys class is more old money. The similarities being that they both have money but one has had to work for it where the others have just been able to sit around and collect it. The geography is they both live on what what looks like an egg but one side feels they are better and can act better than the other side. The side that feels they can act better is East Egg and the side that earns there own money is west egg.
Comment by doonster was published late due to technical difficulties also Doonster is Joe Smith.
Different hills in the Gatsby are far apart. The fact that West Egg is not as elegant per say as East Egg relates to social class. Because they are several miles apart it kinda shows that people of different social classes are in a sense miles apart in what they like and what they do. Dasiy comes from a place of more elegance and higher standards while Tom comes from a place of more "normal" standard. Such relating to the two hills.
The geography in the book is used as symbolism for the different econimic statures. The Buchanan's have alot of money, enough to not worry about what they spend. Gatsby appears to be in the same situation. They do use their wealth in different ways though. The Buchanan's use it for travel, and Gatsby uses his to throw expensive parties.
I think that in The Great Gatsby that geography does play a part. People who live on east egg are seen by society to be better off. However Gatsby is an acception. Even though He lived in west egg he was still very rich and very popular. The geography of the hills seperate the class for the most part but their are acceptions.
In the Great Gatsby, Tom and Daisy lived very care free lives since they inherited there wealth. Gatsby lives in the West Egg, which isn't as fancy, and the people that live there aren't as well off as the people that live in the East Egg. The different eggs seperate the social classes, and make you realize how many difference they have. There is the social class where people have to work hard to earn what they have, they live in the West Egg, and then there is the people who live in the East Egg and don't really have to work hard if at all for there wealth.
The geography in The Great Gatsby seems to be a pretty important aspect of this book because it separates the rich east egg from the lower class west egg. Gatsby breaks this theme by being very wealthy and living on the west egg and worked for the lifestyle he wanted. Daisy and tom's wealth is inherited and used to their fancy lifestyle. tom and daisys social class makes up of inherited wealthy friends while Gatsby's social class consists of people he knows and people that he doesn't know that just show up to his parties.
In the novel, Fitzgerald uses geography to show the seperation in social classes. By separating the two classes by West and East, makes it appear that they are both physically far apart, as well as ideologically apart.
I think that Gatsby's social class and place of living are very much connected. Gatsby wants to be more like time in his life but can never quite do it. He was not an Ivey league man and would never fit into the same roll as Tom. The fact that he lives in West Egg rather then East Egg shows that he isn't of the same status as Tom. He wants to be but simply cannot because of his past.
Gatsby is in the higher class, much like Tom and Daisy Buchanan, even though they live in different places. Gatsby lives on West Egg, which is mainly a lower class than East Egg, where Tom and Daisy live, but he is still in the upper class like they are, so even though geography contributes to the social class in The Great Gatsby, Gatsby himself defies this and is the exception to the rule.
Post a Comment
<< Home